What time of the year, whether in the Jewish or the regular calendar, is most meaningful and important? (Thoughts?)
In the Jewish calendar, we often think of the High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the days between them as the most meaningful, important, and the most likely to be a transformative time for self-growth and also for community building.
These days are significant, but our tradition suggests today, next Tuesday, or any other day, is equally full of promise, equally full of potential for transformation, for us, for our community, and beyond.
We see this lesson in a teaching of Rabbi Eliezer in the Mishnah – the background is Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the season of teshuvah, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness. And during that time, there’s extra motivation to do this holy work.
Now let’s hear from Rabbi Eliezer, he teaches “Ve’shuv yom echad lifney mi’tat’cha.” “Do teshuvah one day before your death.”
Since we do not ever know this date, Rabbi Eliezer is teaching us to work on teshuvah every day, as a regular and ongoing part of our lives.
We may be thinking this morning about the individuals in DC who died by a lightning strike in Lafayette Park, near the White House. Putting aside the fact we should always follow the lesson of ‘when thunder roars, head indoors’, this incident reminds us how quickly life can evaporate.
As we begin reading this week from the 5th Book of the Torah, Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses is aware he’s coming to the end of his life. He’s doing his best to keep to Eliezer’s lesson, to prepare the people for crossing the Jordan, to fill them with hope, to remind them of the covenant, and to strengthen Joshua who will lead them across.
Our Torah reading this morning ends with Moses telling Joshua, “Do not fear [the kingdoms on the other side of the river]…for it is Ado-nai your God who will battle for you.”
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin teaches us Moses is trying to encourage and strengthen Joshua for what lies ahead.
And we need the same encouragement and the same wishes for strength. Doing teshuvah regularly is draining. Teshuvah requires us to confront our weaknesses, our growing edges, and the times we made poor choices for what we said or did, or what we did not say or what we did not do. It is a humbling spiritual exercise.
Starting tomorrow we will have seven weeks until Rosh Hashanah, seven weeks of regular weekdays and regular Shabbats. This is a good time to focus our thoughts on what we had hoped to accomplish last year, and what areas of growth we want to pursue in the New Year.
As a tennis player I learned a lesson after a few years of playing the game – whoever has the ball on their side at the moment, for the most part, has the advantage and can decide what will happen next.
Rabbi Eliezer teaches us every day the ball is on our side of the court.
